Gang warfare in Jihadi-land

The collapse of central government in Syria will doubtless be resolved before too long, but any accommodation will have little bearing on the wider Islamist ambitions of the jihadists who have battened on Syria’s troubles to advance agendas of their own.

Al- Qaida linked fighters in Syria..
(photo credit:REUTERS)

They love death so much, these Islamist extremists, that they have taken to practicing it on each other. Not content with inducing young people to blow themselves up, or with slaughtering innocent civilians who happen to get in their way, they have turned on themselves. Like Chicago in the 1920's, rival gangs are scrabbling for supremacy in the lawless, free-for-all battleground that is today’s Syria. At least 2,300 rebels and jihadists have been slain in the past month battling each other in that benighted country.The rebel infighting erupted in early January 2014 between a loose alliance of moderates and Islamists on one hand, and on the other, the violent and ruthless jihadist group, the 'Islamic State of Iraq and Syria', commonly known as ISIS.